Welcome to the Family
by Tundra Warrior
Summary: [I can't really think of a good summary beyond-] Ermac gets recruited in to the OIA (Outerworld Invstigation Agency.). In this way, maybe he can become a force of good. [T for safe keeping.]


A/N: If you recall in _Rebirth, _I mentioned this story. Well, here is the long over-due (In my opinion) first chapter and the introduction to the protagonist of this story. Someone will be stunned by this (embrace my sarcasm.) Ermac! Yes, I love him. If I could choose what happened to my soul- well, that and if Ermac was real- I would love to be one of his souls. *laughs.* His only medic. Antiway, I own nothing! Except my ocs.  
~Tundra Warrior

[Welcome to the Family][Chapter One: Ermac]

The Outerworld telekinetic closed his eyes. It had only been a few days ago that he was freed from Shao Kahn's control by his new ally, Kenshi. His freedom was still so new. Ermac controlled his souls and himself… He was the captain of his own fate now. It was an adrenaline rush.

"Ermac?" He opened his dark jade eyes. Jax stood before him. The African American male seemed to have been standing there a long time. Ermac took in his fancy military dress. It consisted of a green jacket with medals and ribbons on the left side of his chest. The name plate on the right pocket flap read 'Briggs'. His unit's trademark green beret was held in one of his mechanical hands. A small bit of pain pierced Ermac's souls. He'd caused him to lose his real arms.

"Yes, Jax?" He asked, the many souls speaking in unison with him, adding their voice to his. The end affect was something similar to an echo. "What do you need from us?" Ermac had agreed, the day after he'd been free, that he would help in any way he could. Even the Outerworld Investigation Agency, much to his ironic humor. The newborn organization had found his help a great asset.

"We would like you to join a team we're making."

"Us?" He asked doubtfully. "Why us? Kenshi would be better…His powers are similar to ours." The soldier shook his head.

"Kenshi already is a part of OIA."

_Already a part of it?…._

"Then why do you need us?" The warrior tilted his head to the side.

"Like I said, we're building a team. We want you to a part of it." Ermac pondered the proposition. This could be his only chance to become a force of good. He snapped his head back upright.

"We will be a part of this team." Jax smiled… As if he had known that Ermac would agree.

"Then get your stuff ready. We ship out back to the States tomorrow." The bandaged up head rose and fell in a curt nod. Jax held a hand out to the sitting male. Ermac paused, unaware of what he wanted. "Urh..." The other male hesitated. "I want to shake on the deal." Ermac allowed his hand to clasp Jax and shake hands.

"We are grateful."

"Trust me. The Agency is way more grateful."

* * *

He shifted uneasy. He wasn't dressed in his red and black armor and he lacked his bandages. Not that he really needed them. No wounds were anywhere on his form. He was tan with thin lips, jade green eyes, and a messy mop of inky black hair.

"Relax, Ermac." Sonya encouraged. "You're fine. Nothing is gonna happen."

"You tell us this now, but trust us…" He glanced around. "This thing should not be able to fly…" Sonya laughed.

"Like I said, relax. The pilots won't let us-"

"Hey, Sonya. I think we might have some delay…" The copilot called over the intercom to her.

"And that is?" She called back. Ermac was even more uneasy now.

"There are reports of a storm brewing not far from base."

_Did we just hear that right? _Stormy weather seemed to herald misfortunate.

"We can make." She tapped Ermac's booted foot with her own. The boots were the only part of his armor that he still had on. "You relax. I'm sure you and Alice will get along fine."

"Is this Alice on our team?" The psychokinetic tilted his head to side. His nervous hands fiddled with the bottom of his borrowed blue shirt. It was slightly baggy on his muscular built. Sonya said that she'd get him some better fitting clothes for when he was off base later. They expected him to wander around Earthrealm in his spare time?

"Lieutenant Blade, I was mistaken we will be landing in ten minutes." Ermac became more nervous... again. Sonya reached into a bag and pulled out an odd jade orb. For a second, the Soul Fusion thought it to be one of his souls.

"Here. Mess with this." She gave him the orb.

"What is this?" The soldier laughed. Her laugh sounded new to him. Ermac had never heard Sonya laugh before, though.

"It's a glass ball. Alice made it to help relax." There was that name again. Alice. She must be a part of the new team. "She would move it around with her telekinesis, making sure it didn't touch the ground." A fellow psychokinetic? He took it into his hands as he thought. Focusing on the orb, he made it levitate. It was harder than it looked. Ermac couldn't use too much force or the glass would shatter. He couldn't use too little or it would fall into his lap. The Soul Fusion found his mind slip into the rhythm of left and right, up and down, left to right, and up and down. The motion enthralled him. To the point, the enforcer didn't notice the plane land. Well, until Sonya's hand wrapped around the orb. "Time to go." Ermac looked up at her and withdrew his energies.

* * *

"That's your team." Through a one way mirror, a rag tag band could be seen. There was a brunette dressed in blue, white and blood red. An odd symbol (a bleeding eye) was on the front of the white sleeveless shirt. Jax pointed to her. "That's Alice…or as she's better known as…Jack." Jack looked up and at the glass. "She's our head medic and was our only Soul Fusion."

"Who created her?" He asked. She couldn't be Shao Kahn's creature. Her appearance was too close to that of an Earthrealmer. To the point, it could be said that her body was from Earthrealm.

"Some cult when they used her for a human sacrifice."

_Human sacrifice? _Smoke was a victim of that. _Shouldn't that make her an Enenra?_

"Shouldn't she be a-"

"Smoke is just as confused by this. Kenshi and Raiden think that, when she was dying, Alice pulled the souls of her fallen team into herself." A confused look from Ermac. "She made herself a Fusion of Souls, like you, but…" Jax's chocolate brown eyes met his jade. "Unlike you, she isn't bound to a gender."

"Meaning?" He'd heard others say that when they needed more information.

"She can switch between Alice and Jack." Jax typed onto a computer and pulled up two files. One had the headings:

_Name: Alice Rain Blaze_

_Age: 29_

_Gender: Female_

_Race: Italian Irish_

The second one was somewhat different, but something was similar.

_Name: Jack Ermac Blaze_

_Age: 29_

_Gender: Male_

_Race: ?_

Ermac skimmed the rest until-

_Jack is one of the many souls within Alice. As of this moment, I'm unsure of how she came across him, if this is the soul of one of Alice's teammates or a soul that was added into her by Lynn. As a commanding officer, Jack is a valuable member. Similar to his namesake, Ermac, he was manipulated to kill 'innocent' people. Jack has come to try to atone for his sins. _

_Something that is less than desirable is his cold attitude and the lack of empathy. I've had the unfortunate experience of being on the receiving end of his attacks. If Alice had not taken control of her body back, I would've been a victim of the Winter Assassin. _

Then he went to Alice's.

_Alice is the original soul and owner of the body. She served two tours overseas before an incident made her leave on a medical discharge. Details aren't exactly known, but she does remember up to dying._

_Her unit was on a recon mission. There had been reports of a store of illegal guns, given to the local insurgents, curtsey of the Black Dragon (Later confirmed by our Black Dragon, Jeff the Killer.). Although, the shipment had already been shipped out. Upon entering the now abandoned storage area, the unit was ambushed by the followers of an occult. Alice watched in horror as her teammates were killed right before her eyes.-_

Her team had died? It was a nod to Kenshi and Raiden's theory of her pulling the souls into herself. A door opened. A blind youth entered in.

"Jax?" Ermac thought, for a second, that he was Kenshi, but he had no blind fold and his hair was gold, not black.

"Right here, Robert." Jax minimized the folders. "What is it?" Robert moved his head as if he were looking around.

"You might want to hurry up. "

"Why?" Ermac turned back to the glass. Alice seemed to be shouting at someone. A ginger head woman returned her aggression. "Goddamnit… C'mon, Ermac." The African American lead him through a door. "Jack, Tempête, cut it out." The girl glared at him. One of Ermac's souls told him that tempête meant storm. Who would name a child storm?

_"The same person who named Rain Rain." _The Shirai Ryu soul in him muttered.

"Break it up." Jax ordered. "Jack, take Ermac to the medical ward for the routine stuff." The fellow soul fusion sighed, but turned and walked over to him.

"C'mon, mate." Jack said in a quiet voice.

A/N: Chapter one! Tempête is French for storm...or storms, I can't remember which. Okay. Tell me what you think.  
~Tundra Warrior


End file.
